PAY attention to your future
The “PAY attention to your future” project increases the financial self-sufficiency of single young refugees through trainings, experiential learning, and workshops.
Reason
For young people who have fled to the Netherlands without parents – unaccompanied minor aliens (UMFNs) – working on your future and financial self-sufficiency is a challenge. In the Netherlands there are currently about 6,000 unaccompanied minor foreign nationals and an estimated 50,000 former unaccompanied minor foreign nationals who have come to the Netherlands since 1990
CBS figures show that in 2016, more than half of the households of people from refugee backgrounds had incomes below the low-income threshold. Households of Eritrean refugees were even most often at risk of poverty at 83%. Although no concrete figures are available on the financial position of (former) unaccompanied minors, several organizations identify poverty and debt among these young people.
There is a lack of a national offer on financial self-sufficiency within the care, reception and guidance of (former) unaccompanied minors that is well suited to the needs, questions and (complex) world of unaccompanied minors and the crucial transition to adulthood. With the project PAY attention to your future SAMAH likes to contribute to increasing the financial self-sufficiency of (former) unaccompanied foreign minors aged 12-27 years.
Objective
The overall objective of this project is to increase the financial self-sufficiency of young single refugees between the ages of 12-27. Within this, several more specific objectives can be distinguished:
- Training former unaccompanied minors in the role of experience expert to inform and support (former) unaccompanied minors between the ages of 12-27 to prevent poverty and debt problems
- Increasing (access to) knowledge and skills of (former) unaccompanied minors between the ages of 12-27 regarding (social) expectations, rights and obligations around financial self-sufficiency
- Increasing the network of (former) unaccompanied minors between the ages of 12-27, so that they have access to a safety net and/or demand center where needed.
- Increase expertise of professionals, policy makers and volunteers on the specific situation of (former) unaccompanied minors between the ages of 12-27 and effective approaches to increase their financial self-sufficiency.
Results
- Podcasts: https://samah.nl/verhalen/
- Expert meeting in cooperation with KIS: https://www.kis.nl/artikel/financiele-zelfredzaamheid-van-jonge-alleenstaande-vluchtelingen-bevorderen
- Overview of finances AMV in cooperation with Welzijn Lelystad: https://samah.nl/overzicht-financien-voormalig-amvs/
- Standards for supporting youth in financial self-sufficiency: https://samah.nl/standaarden/
- Workshops for unaccompanied minor refugees: https://samah.nl/workshops-voor-voormalig-amv/
If you would like to learn more about the possibilities of this project within your municipality or organization, please contact us!
The PAY attention to your future project is made possible by financial support from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Children’s Stamps Foundation, Corbello Foundation and Janivo Foundation.
